This Crown Is Mine: History of Pretenders for the Crown, Civil War, and Foreign Invasion in Seventeenth-Century Russia

by Benjamin Levin

Overview

In the early 17th century, Russia went through a foreign invasion and the nation’s first civil war — a time so horrible that it acquired its own name in Russian history: “The Times of Troubles”. Internal and external forces came together to create a storm of such magnitude that it threatened the very existence of the nation. The country lay in ruins and a foreign army occupied Moscow. For a while it seemed that Russia would never become an independent nation again, but the Russian people found enough strength and courage to stop the civil war and unite against foreign invaders.

Two young people played a most important role in these events — a pretender to the Russian throne who called himself Tsarevich Dmitry, son of the late Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and Marina Mnishek, the girl with whom he fell in love while on the run from then Russian Tsar, Boris Godunov. Dmitry invaded Russia with a small band of adventurers and defeated Godunov. He and Marina were married and crowned in the Kremlin. Two weeks after their marriage, Dmitry was killed in a riot and Marina was exiled to the far North. But she escaped, and took part in a civil war herself. Twice she came to the walls of Moscow with an army and two different men by her side, fighting for her crown.

This is a true story how a young man of uncertain ancestry and a young woman from a family of Polish nobility forced history to engrave their names into the list of Tsar’s families of Russia. In their adventures, fights, travels, love stories, and turns of fate throwing them into the depths of despair and raising them to the heights of power and wealth, this couple lived more exciting lives than millions of other human beings put together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469795713
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/05/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	608
File size:	4 MB

Read an Excerpt

This Crown Is Mine

History of pretenders for the Crown, civil war, and foreign invasion in 17th century Russia

---

By Benjamin Levin

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Benjamin Levin
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-9572-0

---

Chapter One

A New Servant in Brahin (June 1603, Poland)

At the end of the sixteenth century the Vishnevetski family was one of most distinguished families in Poland. Descendants of the royal house of Gedimin, they had a strain of the Rurik's blood in their veins. The family owned large territories of steppe and forest just south of the Russian borders, an area sparsely populated with small towns and villages. In 1600 Prince Adam Vishnevetski acquired a place called Brahin, actually little more than a village surrounded by vast swamps close to the Russian border, and made it his main residence. In early 1603 he started having problems with Moscovites who plundered several of his villages and seized two of his towns. A long process of appeals and legal complaints made by Adam through King Sigismund to the Russian government came to nothing. The Russians had no intention of returning seized lands, and the King was not about to start a war because of two small towns in the middle of nowhere. Adam, not a patient politician but rather an adventurous hothead, fumed with rage but could not do much.

In June of 1603 Adam added a new personal attendant to his staff. The young man had recently arrived from the Arian school in Goscha with a letter of introduction from its founder, Pan Gosky. One day when Prince Adam was taking a bath, the new valet, assigned to assist him, was slow and mishandled one of his tasks. Adam, being in a foul mood that day, slapped him in the face. Such outbursts did not happen often, as many of the people in Adam's household were of the minor nobility; yet it was not totally unheard of, and normally would not have caused much of a commotion. This time, however, the new valet took what happened very close to heart. He started weeping, and through his sobs said that Adam would never have done that if he knew who he was, but because he could not yet openly announce his true identity, he must bear his misfortune with patience. Surprised, Adam asked, "Well, who are you? What is your name?" The young man's reply stunned the Prince. "I am Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia. Everybody thinks that I was killed in Uglich, but with the help of my mother and my relatives I escaped." He showed Adam a priceless golden cross set with diamonds and said that his godfather gave the cross to him when he was christened. Then the youth prostrated himself before Adam and said that now he was at his mercy, but that if Adam helped him, he would be richly rewarded.

Adam quickly assessed the situation. The Polish aristocracy close to the country's political circles was always well informed about what was going on in Russia. He, of course, heard the story of Tsarevich Dmitry's death, and was aware that the current Tsar Boris Godunov was not enjoying much love from his subjects. He knew about the hunger in Russia, the uprisings of serfs, and about rumors that the supposedly murdered Tsarevich Dmitry was alive. Adam had learned about that from the report of Polish ambassador in Moscow, Leo Sapiega, which was sent to him by his brother Konstantin. According to Sapiega, Russian authorities had implemented harsh measures to quell these rumors and many Russian nobles and commoners had been executed or exiled, including the Romanovs, one of most respected aristocratic families of the land.

Adam was not a statesman or politician, so the large-scale political picture was not his domain. He did not think much about the validity of the claim made by this valet and would-be Tsarevich, or what interest the Polish government might have in the matter. That was out of his league. But revenge on Godunov for the loss of his towns, and maybe even a little blackmail to help negotiations with the Russian government regarding the seized lands, that was a different story altogether. There was not much to lose, and possibly a lot to gain. By the time Dmitry calmed down, Adam's mind was made up. If he made everybody believe that he took the claims of this youth seriously, the rumors would quickly reach authorities in Moscow and then their reaction would tell him how he could benefit from this new situation.

Thus, the first thing Adam did was to beg His Majesty's forgiveness for his own despicable act of rudeness, caused by his total ignorance of His Majesty's identity. This was kindly granted. Then Adam hurried to give the appropriate orders. Dmitry, who accepted his change of fate with amazing grace and self- assuredness, allowed himself to be washed and clothed in the best costume that could be found in the household. Then Adam presented him with six of his finest horses and expensive armor, which included a gold-chased sword and a gem-studded dagger. Dmitry was also provided with his own personal servants and a carriage suitable for a prince. In the evening a fabulous dinner was arranged, at which Adam introduced to his amazed guests Dmitry, Grand Prince of Moscovia and rightful Tsar of All Russia, without going into specifics of when or how the imperial guest had arrived.

The next several days Adam and Dmitry spent in conversations. Adam knew that to have a strong bargaining position, he needed as many details of Dmitry's story as possible. Adam and Dmitry rode horses in the forest around Brahin, walked in the woods, and dined together. Most of the time Dmitry talked and Adam listened. The story he heard was amazing, entertaining, and frighteningly credible. Now Adam could not feel at ease with his former valet, and could not help but wonder. What if it was all true and his guest was the real son and rightful heir of Ivan IV? Was there a chance that, by an accident of fate, he had become the benefactor of the true Tsarevich Dmitry? That would make Tsar Godunov an impostor, and this youth with noble posture and a gift for intelligent conversation the legitimate Tsar of All Russia!

Adam did not believe Dmitry had arrived in Brahin without a plan. The accident in the bath was probably just that, an accident, but Dmitry obviously was clever enough to have his own game plan. Actually, now Adam remembered hearing several rumors that he had paid no attention to before about Tsarevich Dmitry being alive. Besides a report by Leo Sapiega from Russia in 1600, Adam heard a story from traveling monks that at the Pechorsky Monastery in Kiev a young man, gravely ill and thinking he was on his deathbed, had confessed to the archimandrite that he was Dmitry Tsarevich. The archimandrite got angry and ordered the monk, who by the way miraculously recuperated at a moment's notice, to leave the monastery. Then last year at a party he overheard the son of Prince Konstantin Ostrozski talking about a young man living in his father's estate who had hinted that he was the son of Ivan IV, after which Prince Konstantin told him to leave Ostrogi. The latest rumor he had heard in the early spring of 1603 was about some crazy venture of the Cossacks, who gave refuge to a man calling himself the rightful Tsar of All Russia. Adam knew that the Cossacks hated Godunov and were eagerly looking for a chance to rise against him. Dmitry's own version of all these events was slightly different. Clearly, he tried to hide from Adam his previous attempts to announce himself. It was also not out of the realm of possibility that the pretender chose Adam for his next attempt exactly because he had found out about Adam's problems with Moscovites. It did not matter. Adam had an interesting adventure at hand, and maybe even some profit to make. This is was what life was about!

But after Adam introduced his guest to members of his household and friends as Tsarevich Dmitry, rightful Tsar of All Russia, events took on a life of their own, quickly running out of control. A story of Tsarevich being a guest in the estate of Prince Adam Vishnevetski spread like wildfire among local Polish nobility and in nearby Cossack areas. News that a member of one of the richest, most aristocratic families in Poland, himself a distant relative of the Ruriks, supported the claims of a pretender was enough to excite adventurous young Poles and the wild Cossacks, who hated Russia and wanted to see some action. One after another, armed groups started gathering in Brahin demanding that Adam lead them to war against the Russians. Adam started having a sinking feeling that he had gotten in way over his head. The last thing he wanted was to be declared the instigator of a Cossack uprising. His original plan to use the Tsarevich Dmitry story for his own small gains had grown into something too hot to handle. He needed advice of somebody more skillful in politics and closer to the seat of power. Besides, it soon became clear that Tsar Godunov was genuinely worried about this young man, whether he was an impostor or the real Tsarevich.

A few months after Prince Adam had presented Dmitry to his guests, a man came to see him. Adam was called to the gates by the guard on duty. The visitor looked tired, like someone who had just made a long journey. He asked Adam for a private conversation. Adam invited the man into the house and offered him a drink. The stranger introduced himself as a messenger from Simeon Godunov, the brother of the Tsar of Russia. No name — just a messenger. The man looked calm, experienced, and dangerous. Apparently, he had precise instructions. He wasted no time and went straight to business. The authorities in Moscow had received information that a defrocked monk, thief, black magician, and fugitive convict named Grigory Otrepiev was a guest in Adam's house. Tsar Godunov wanted criminal Otrepiev to be returned to Russia. As a gesture of gratitude, all the issues between Adam and the Russian state would be immediately resolved. Adam would get back his towns, as well as monetary restitution for his troubles. But Otrepiev must be sent to Moscow in chains. That point was not negotiable. If Adam refused, the Russian authority would consider this a decidedly unfriendly act and reserve the right to do whatever they felt is necessary to get Otrepiev back.

Insulted as he was, the Prince spared the messenger's life. He did not want to go too far in making the Russians angry, and besides Adam was a soldier himself. He knew the messenger was just carrying out orders. However the man had to start back to the Russian border immediately. Simeon Godunov had miscalculated. Used to dealing with Russians, he had chosen absolutely the wrong approach. For a Russian, a threat from the all-powerful head of the Tsar's dreaded secret service, especially when reinforced by the promise of reward, would have been enough. But in Poland, when it concerned nobility, threats did not work. If made by an equal, a duel, at that time unknown in Russia, would have immediately ensued. Besides, Adam was not just a noble; he was a scion of one of the proudest families in Poland and a man well known for his hot temper. Even if he had wanted to accept Godunov's offer, he could not; Dmitry was no longer his servant. Adam himself had introduced him as the son of Ivan IV. To allow his noble guest and blood relative, who had asked for his protection, to be taken in chains with a hood over his head as a common criminal back to the universally hated Russia would mean disgrace and loss of honor in the eyes of the whole country.

Adam accepted the challenge, and now life in Brahin, a small place close to the Russian border, could quickly become dangerous. It would take little time for a mobile detachment of streltsy to make a Tatar-like lightning nighttime raid on Brahin. The ensuing argument between Poland and Russia about who was responsible for all these dead bodies in Brahin would take years, and would come to nothing. Adam knew that he had to get his guest away from the border. Besides, he wanted to get advice on the whole pretender business from his cousin, Konstantin Vishnevetski, who was more attuned to the politics of the Polish court. Adam informed him about all the recent events and his fears, and received an invitation to visit the capital of the family estates of Prince Konstantin, over three hundred miles away from the Russian border in Zalozhtsy. At the end of the summer of 1603, Adam's caravan left Brahin.

Meanwhile, disturbing rumors began circulating in the Polish capital that the Cossacks were on the move. At the beginning there was no concrete information about what was happening, but when the Cossacks started buying armaments, enlisting fresh recruits, hoarding provisions, organizing into bands, and choosing hetman, that could mean only one thing: war. Poland had just been through the hard times of a previous Cossack uprising, and although the Cossacks were defeated and their leader Nalivaiko had been publicly roasted inside a brass bull in Warsaw, stories of the merciless raids of Cossack bandits and their despicable cruelty were fresh in the memory of many Poles. Therefore, when rumors of unrest among the Cossacks reached Krakow, the government went on alert and King Sigismund ordered an investigation.

When Adam reached Zalozhtsy, Konstantin already knew about the inquiries being made by the King. After hearing Adam's story, Konstantin realized that the rash actions of his hotheaded cousin had created substantial anxiety, rising up directly to the Polish throne. That could not be good. On Konstantin's advice, Adam wrote a letter to the authorities, describing the appearance of a man who called himself Tsarevich Dmitry, rightful Tsar of All Russia. The Tsarevich, wrote Adam, wanted to ask the King of Poland for help in regaining his throne. Adam said that he would have written earlier, but had wanted to find out more about this man before bothering the authorities with the matter. The content of this letter put King Sigismund in a precarious position. He had just signed a twenty-year peace treaty with Russia and recently lost a war with Sweden, and his own relations with the Polish nobility were not going well. The last thing he needed was a complication in his relations with Poland's powerful eastern neighbor. But on the other hand, if the Cossacks were uniting behind someone they called Tsar Dmitry, swearing allegiance to him and promising to march on Moscow to install him as Tsar of Russia, all that had nothing to do with Poland. The King could just watch this strange story unfolding, and perhaps somehow use it to Poland's advantage in its never-ending competition with Russia. Therefore, without rejecting this ridiculous tale outright, Sigismund sent a letter to Prince Adam, asking him for details regarding the incident and officially summoning him and the pretender to Krakow. The King took a prudent course of action. In December he announced he would reserve his judgment until he met in person with the pretender in Krakow, and issued a strict order forbidding any subject of the crown to sell arms to the Cossacks under penalty of death. Politically, this enabled the King to avoid an open breach of relations with Russia.

Meanwhile, Polish nobility from near and far started gathering in Zalozhtsy asking to be introduced to the legitimate Tsar of Russia and offering their participation in the upcoming campaign against Moscow. Aristocrats competed for a chance to entertain the Tsarevich, so the days were spent in lavish feasts, hunting, drinking, fencing, dancing, and planning the future military campaign. They were all young, impatient, and insanely brave. Dmitry showed himself to be a good speaker, his Polish was excellent, he knew Russian and Polish history well, his behavior was graceful and noble, and his knowledge of etiquette was on a par with the noblest Poles. Given a horse and a weapon he was a good match for these ferocious young fighters, who soon were ready and willing to go wherever fate and the Tsarevich would lead them.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from This Crown Is Mine by Benjamin Levin Copyright © 2012 by Benjamin Levin. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword....................xi
Prologue: The Rise of Moscovia....................xiii
Book I. Dmitry the First, Tsar of All Russia....................1
Part 1 A Man Called Dmitry....................3
Chapter 1. A New Servant in Brahin (June 1603, Poland)....................5
Chapter 2. A Girl Meets the Prince (February 1604, Poland)....................13
Chapter 3. Gathering in Sambor (February 1604, Poland)....................18
Chapter 4. The End of a Dynasty....................22
Chapter 5. Story of Tsarevich Dmitry, Told by Himself to Mnishek....................38
Chapter 6. The Best Laid Plans (March 1604, Poland)....................59
Part 2 The Birth of the Pretender....................71
Chapter 1. Audience with the King (March to April 1604, Poland)....................73
Chapter 2. Promises to Keep (May 1604, Poland)....................82
Chapter 3. The Marriage Vows (May to August 1604, Poland)....................90
Chapter 4. The Campaign Begins (August to October 1604, Poland)....................95
Part 3 A Road to Glory....................103
Chapter 1. Dmitry the Liberator (October 1604 to January 1605, Russia)....................105
Chapter 2. The Fortunes of War (January to April 1605, Russia)....................112
Chapter 3. The Collapse of the Army (April to May 1605, Russia)....................122
Chapter 4. His Majesty Tsar Dmitry I (May to July 1605, Russia)....................133
Chapter 5. It Is Hard to Be a Tsar (July to October 1605, Russia)....................153
Chapter 6. The Private Life of the Tsar (July to October 1605, Russia)....................166
Chapter 7. Love and Politics (October to November 1605, Russia)....................176
Part 4 Tsaritsa for a Fortnight....................187
Chapter 1. A Long Wait (August 1604 to November 1605, Poland)....................189
Chapter 2. The Road to Moscow (November 1605 to May 1606, Poland, Russia)....................199
Chapter 3. The Days of Glory (May 1606, Russia)....................209
Chapter 4. Those Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy ... (May 1606, Russia)....................222
Chapter 5. A Week in the Life of Royals (May 1606, Russia)....................231
Book II. Marina Mnishek, Tsaritsa of All Russia....................245
Part 1 If at First You Fail....................247
Chapter 1. The Day of Horror (May 27, 1606, Russia)....................249
Chapter 2. Kill the Heathens! (May 27, 1606, Russia)....................260
Chapter 3. Vassili IV, Tsar of All Russia (May to August 1606, Russia)....................269
Chapter 4. Days of Despair (August 1606 to May 1608, Russia)....................279
Chapter 5. A Tenacious Ghost (August 1606 to April 1608, Russia)....................294
Chapter 6. The Thief (June 1606 to April 1608, Poland)....................310
Chapter 7. One Country, Two Tsars (May to August 1608, Russia)....................329
Part 2 Then Try....................349
Chapter 1. Tsaritsa and the Thief (August to September 1608, Russia)....................351
Chapter 2. The Man of Her Dreams (September 1608 to January 1609, Russia)....................383
Chapter 3. Siege of the Holy Shrine (October 1608 to January 1610)....................394
Chapter 4. A Tale of Two Capitals (January to October 1609, Russia)....................399
Chapter 5. The Polish Invasion (August 1609 to July 1611, Russia)....................410
Chapter 6. Monk Vassili (March 1610 to July 1611, Russia)....................437
Chapter 7. Polish King for the Russian Throne (March 1610 to January 1612, Russia)....................447
Chapter 8. In the Ice Cage (January 1612, Russia)....................473
Part 3 And Try Again....................485
Chapter 1. And Death Fleeth from Them (January to March 1611, Russia)....................487
Chapter 2. Cossack Ivan, Regent of Russia (April to September 1611, Russia)....................496
Chapter 3. The Victory That Was Not (September 1611 to August 1612, Poland)....................504
Chapter 4. From Ruins And Ashes (September 1611 to August 1612, Russia)....................514
Chapter 5. The Rise of the House of Romanovs (August 1612 to July 1613, Russia)....................524
Epilogue: The Black Crow (July 1613 to 1614, Russia)....................533
Illustrations and Maps....................543
Appendices....................559
Appendix A. Chronology....................561
Appendix B. Eyewitnesses and participants....................564
Appendix C. Historical Background: The Cossacks....................571
Appendix D. Historical Background: The Russian Army....................574
Bibliography....................577
Acknowledgements....................585